Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Linc wouldn’t miss much. Off season was really just a way for the coaches to keep the kids in shape and sharp. Linc wouldn’t have that problem. He never slacked.
Both coaches nodded, their faces chapped due to the wind that was assaulting the open field around us.
Coach King and Coach Martin would have likely come in hours ago, due to the cold, but they’d waited for me to arrive from work.
Unfortunately, I’d been over two hours away, and none of the other club members could get off from what they were doing to help me out. And Ellen was working, and no way in hell would I call her and insert her into a situation she might not be able to extract herself from.
I couldn’t feel the cold at all.
I was numb from Margot’s latest stunt.
She had no fucking morals. Attacking my kid at school was something I never thought she’d do.
“Thank you for calling me and watching out for him,” I told the two men, offering them each my hand.
They shook it, and I nodded at them before heading to Linc’s car.
He looked at me warily.
“Drive straight home,” I ordered. “I’ll be right behind you.”
After receiving his nod, I angrily walked to my bike and started it up.
When he pulled into traffic, I pulled right behind him, staying on his tail the entire way.
When he pulled up to the house, I pulled up behind him, got off the bike, and held out my hand for his keys.
“You won’t be needing those,” I informed him. Anger at Linc’s mother made my voice come out sharper than I intended. “I’ll be taking you to school, and one of the boys from the club will be picking you up until I can figure out what in the fuck to do about her.”
Linc was angry. Really angry.
“She’s pregnant, Dad. What do you want me to do? I can’t fucking deal with that when she holds a goddamn knife to her stomach and threatens to kill a baby!”
I looked at my son, really looked at him, and finally saw what he was trying to hide.
“You think she’s going to do it.”
His head fell forward.
“I would’ve gone with her to stop her from doing that.”
“She did that to me, too, when she was pregnant with you. Used me up and nearly hung me out to dry. I was only a good lawyer’s final trick away from prison, and the only thing that saved me was the fact that she wanted to save her ass more than she wanted to punish mine,” I informed him. “Called her bluff finally. I’ll never forgive myself for that, but I wasn’t sure what else to do anymore. Nobody would fucking help me. I was a dumbass kid who wasn’t well liked. Nobody at my side to do anything about it but me.”
Linc looked up at me.
“But you don’t have that problem,” I said fiercely. “You’ll always have me.”
Linc nodded, and then, without another word, he turned around and walked away.
He didn’t even greet Ellen when he passed her as he made his way inside.
“What happened?”
The concern in Ellen’s voice had my anger dissipating. Not all the way, but enough that I could think clearly once again.
“Margot decided to try to force Linc to go with her after school. When he wouldn’t, she held a knife to her stomach and threatened to kill the baby she’s carrying. He went to get in the car, and two of his coaches saw him. They stopped him, then called me,” I growled. “I got there, they explained the situation. I don’t know what the fuck to do anymore.”
“You may not, but I do.”
I flinched, not expecting to hear Ghost’s voice coming from inside my house.
“What do you have?”
He handed me a paper.
“A court ordered psych evaluation,” Ghost said. “That’s probably why she got desperate enough to try to get your kid in her car after the warning you scared her with.”
I bit my lip, and Ellen’s head turned toward me slowly.
“Warning?” she asked carefully.
“Warning,” I confirmed.
She sighed and looked back toward Ghost.
“I don’t even want to know.”
Ghost’s lips twitched.
“That’s good, darlin’,” he said. “Because I’m sure he wouldn’t tell you.”
I barely contained the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose.
“There are some things, Ghost, that you shouldn’t tell a woman.” I laughed under my breath. “How about we go inside and have a beer. You can tell me what in the hell you did, and I can offer my thanks.”
Forty-five minutes later, I was finished reading the paperwork that Ghost had handed me, and I stared at him.
“These practically say that she’s going into this with eyes wide open. She’s openly admitting to trying to kill herself, multiple times, and she’s also admitted to taking drugs to try to quiet the voices that she hears in her head,” I said, dumbfounded.